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Designer hijacks website, insisting company didn't pay

Anyone who has ever been stiffed by their client has dreamt of doing what Frank Jonen did to Fitness SF. The Web developer took over the website of his health conscious client, claiming he was not paid for his work. The Denver Egoist first reported on the hijacked site.

According to Adweek, Fitness SF denies Jonen’s claim and is eager to be back online. It claims Jonen is blackmailing the company. While this online feud is sure to resolve soon, we can all sit back and bask in the glow of someone who took action, even if it was career suicide. It will also be interesting to watch how Fitness SF handles the crisis—at least everyone knows their URL now.

Twitter is certainly buzzing with this news, and Fitness SF is taking the brunt of the blame.

SF Fitness has not responded from its Twitter feed, the bio of which unfortunately reads: "We answer all our tweets." Perhaps the designer hijacked the Twitter account as well.

While we don’t yet know all of the details of this feud, it can still provide us with some time to speculate on future actions. How would you handle this crisis if you were Fitness SF?
Brian Adams consults with nonprofits, including Komera Project, regarding communications strategy. Brian was previously senior director of communications at United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley and the head of media and community relations for the MSPCA-Angell.